


Everything She Ever Wanted

by sixbeforelunch



Category: Spider-Man (Movieverse)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-01
Updated: 2006-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-07 04:19:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sixbeforelunch/pseuds/sixbeforelunch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mary Jane was going to marry John and have everything she ever wanted. What does she have now?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything She Ever Wanted

**One Year Ago**

Mary Jane flips through the latest issue of _Modern Bride_ while they wait for the wedding planner to get off the phone with the florist. The roses aren't available. MJ doesn't care, but the planner insists on 'straightening things out.' Now they're talking about flying them in from Georgia. MJ sighs and looks at yet another page of wedding cakes. Her soon to be mother-in-law touches her arm and smiles. "Weddings are such a hassle, aren't they."

MJ nods.

"But worth it," Mrs. Jameson says. "The second you start to walk down that aisle, you'll know it was all worth it."

"I'm sure I will," MJ says. She tells herself it's stress that makes her smile feel fake. It must be. There can't be any other reason, this is everything she ever wanted.

**Nine Months Ago**

Being poor really sucks. MJ was never rich--almost, once upon a not that long ago--but she's never been really, really poor before either. The pantry contains: one box of pasta, salt, peanut butter, and an unopened jar of olives. Peter hasn't cashed his check yet (she's surprised J. Jonah is still paying the man that his son's fiancee ran off with, but Jonah is a businessman above all else, and Spider-Man sells) and she hasn't gotten a check since she did an off Broadway play that lasted two nights.

MJ sticks her head into the bedroom to tell Peter to get off his butt and cash his check (and get them some food), but Peter has his face in a book (Advanced Calculus, a brain like that you'd think he'd be making enough money to keep the refrigerator stocked) and she slips back out without being seen.

As she dumps the pasta into the boiling water, she tells herself that it's not that bad. It can't be that bad. This is what she wanted.

**Six Months Ago**

Mary Jane runs into John outside the library and it's every bit as awkward and painful as it should be. The worst of it is that John isn't even angry or hurt. He just seems embarrassed to see her and anxious to get away from her. Like she's this awkward person he knew before but doesn't really care about anymore.

MJ goes home and Peter isn't there, so she practices her lines in front of a mirror until Mary Jane Watson goes away and she can be someone else for a while, someone who knows what she wants.

**Three Months Ago**

Peter comes home around two am most nights, and sometimes not at all. Mary Jane has learned not to let herself worry (much), but when two days go by and she doesn't get so much as a phone call, MJ starts spending her nights chewing her nails and calling emergency rooms all over the city asking about a man with brown hair and blue eyes and never mentioning the mask.

A week later Peter stumbles in, bruised and bleeding and smelling like a sewer. She's so happy to see him that she doesn't say a word when he pulls off his costume and crawls into bed next to her without a shower.

The next morning she has to help him into the bathtub and while he's in there, there's a message from the casting agency telling her she didn't get the part.

MJ sits down on the couch and cries until she hears the water shut off. Then she wipes her face and goes to help Peter, all the while ignoring the little voice that asks why she doesn't have any of the things she wants.

**Today**

Peter gets up early and makes pancakes and they sit around in their robes drinking coffee and reading the New York Times. Peter tells her she's beautiful and wraps his arm around her. It's not everything she ever wanted, but no one gets everything. It's Peter and it's real and right now it's all she needs.


End file.
